Taipei, July 31 (CNA) Taiwan's gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter of this year hit a new six-quarter high on the back of better-than-expected exports, according to government statistics released Thursday. For the April-June period, the country's GDP rose 3.84 percent from a year earlier, the highest growth since the fourth quarter of 2012, when the local economy grew 3.85 percent year-on-year, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said. The second-quarter GDP growth also beat the DGBAS's earlier estimate of 2.79 percent made in May, as real growth in exports of merchandise and services after inflationary adjustment during the period grew 4.45 percent, higher than a previous estimate of a 3.32 percent increase, the government agency said. The real GDP for the second quarter totaled about NT$3.90 trillion (US$129.9 billion) according to the DGBAS. (By Lin Meng-ju and Frances Huang)